Electrical boxes are used to house wiring and devices in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. For example, an electrical box may be used to house electrical outlets, light switches, or wiring for appliances such as ceiling fans. An electrical box is typically mounted on a wall stud but may be mounted on drywall or plaster. Typically, a single electrical box contains screw holes and/or mounting brackets for mounting the box to a stud. The front of the electrical box is open to allow an outlet, switch, or face plate to be mounted. The top, bottom, back and/or side walls of the electrical box may contain one or more “knockout sections”. The knockout sections are pre-designated areas of a wall that are structurally formed so as to be bent inward, bent outward or removed by an electrician to allow the electrician to run wires through the wall into and out of the box. Electrical boxes are generally fabricated using various materials including metal and plastic. While different materials have advantages and disadvantages, the principles of the present disclosure apply to constructions of any material.
A typical electrical box may have a volume of 10-20 cubic inches. In applications where additional space is needed or less space is available, a larger or smaller electrical box may be used as appropriate. A gangable box, which may be referred to as a “gang box”, is an electrical box with one or more removable sides, allowing two or more boxes to be joined together. Accordingly, a double gang box is formed by joining two gang boxes together and typically has dimensions approximately twice that of a single gang box. Likewise, a triple gang box is formed by joining three gang boxes together and typically has dimensions approximately three times that of a single gang box. Multi-gang boxes offer additional space to house wiring and can mount a corresponding number of outlets, receptacles, wall plates, face plates, outlet covers, wall covers, socket covers or other items. Multi-gang boxes may be prefabricated or may be assembled by an electrician by ganging together two or more gang boxes.
To comply with building codes and regulations, a gangable electrical box may not house wires carrying more than one voltage or cumulate more than 300 volts in the same enclosure unless properly separated. For example, a set of wires carrying 120 volts may not be housed in the same electrical box as a set of wires carrying 277 volts. As a result, an electrical box may not house both a standard electrical outlet in the United States (carrying 120 volts) with an electrical switch carrying 277 volts. Likewise, an outlet designed for a “low voltage” consumer device, for example an outlet housing a telephone or ethernet cable, may not be housed in the same electrical box as an electrical outlet designed for a “high voltage” device such as a toaster. As another example, a standard electrical outlet in the United States carrying 120 volts should not be housed in the same electrical box as a coaxial cable for television service.
For an electrical box with more than one voltage or more than 300 volts total to comply with building codes and regulations, an appropriate shield barrier must be present within the electrical box, separating the different voltages. In order for electricians to comply with the building codes and regulations, prefabricated multi-gang electrical boxes with appropriate shield barriers are commercially available. These prefabricated multi-gang boxes are sold with a shield barrier pre-installed in between each compartment. Another commercially available solution is a separately installable gang box divider which is produced and sold separately, and is designed to slide into slots in the interior wall of a gang box.
Existing solutions, such as the ones described above, require an electrician to maintain an inventory of electrical boxes of varying sizes. Alternatively, an electrician may maintain an inventory of gang boxes of varying sizes along with a separate supply of shield barriers. There exists a need for a solution that reduces the number of parts that an electrician must carry in inventory. There also exists a need for a solution that simplifies the process implemented by an electrician in order to provide a multi-gang box housing separate voltages. There also exists a need for a solution that provides multiple uses for components of a single electrical box. The solutions currently existing in the art fail to offer a gang box with a wall that may be removed and modified for use as a shield barrier.